Life & Death
by taleanaomi
Summary: When a doctor looks into Clark's medical history and finds it strangely lacking, she come to Jonathan for answers. Spoilers for S3
1. Chapter 1

o0o

A knock on the barn door made Jonathan Kent look up from the tractor part he was working on. He half expected someone he knew, but instead a young woman with long brunette hair pulled back from her face with a clip. She looked professional in slacks and a green sleeveless top. There was probably heels under the bottoms of those slacks. He wondered what she was selling.

"Jonathan Kent?"

He picked up a cloth from the workbench to wipe his hands. "Yeah. Who are you?"

She walked forward and held out her hand. "My name is Danielle Anderson and I'm a medical intern with Smallville Med. I'd like to ask you a few questions regarding your recent visit."

Jonathan ignored her hand and turned back to the workbench. "I don't really have time to talk to you, Doctor."

This was the last thing he wanted to talk about; which visit was she referring too? There had been several in the last few months, more then he wanted to admit. Their family had shown their faces around the medical center too many times for his comfort. This young woman needed to take her questions back to her superiors and leave it at that. Not usually a rude person, Jonathan Kent was counting on his dismissive comments and her younger years to do the work for him.

Instead of getting the hint and leaving, she stepped closer. "I understand your reluctance to talk a doctor. I really do; I don't like doctors either and I am one. But what I don't get is how a perfectly healthy man suddenly suffers a heart attack or how an eighteen year old farm boy has a medical file thinner then a leaf."

As she finished speaking, she threw a file onto the workbench.

Jonathan slowly put down the wench he had been using and picked up the thin, silver file. It was from Smallville Medical Center and had Clark's name printed neatly in black on the front. Thinning his lips, he looked up at the woman in front of him. "How did you get this?" He asked, motioning with the file.

"I do my research, Mr. Kent." Danielle replied evenly. She pointed to the file in his hand. "I expected to see more visits in there. Now either Clark's been living in a plastic bubble for his entire life or he has the ability to heal himself."

Jonathan forced himself to smile as he threw the file back on the workbench and lifted up the tractor part. "This isn't science fiction, doctor." He told her, grunting with the effort; where was Clark when you needed him? He started towards the barn doors.

She followed him. "Science-fiction in the way that I know you're protecting him?"

Forcing down his annoyance with a sigh, Jonathan set the heavy piece of machinery on the ground and turned to face her. Danielle stepped closer to him.

"That's speculation." Jonathan replied, throughly annoyed at how she kept pushing. Exactly what did she expect to find? What did she want from him?

"Science fiction in the same way that I know you struggle with pain every single day?" She asked him softly.

This time Jonathan did pause. That wasn't in his medical file; no one knew that about him, not even Martha. Danielle stepped into his personal space and gently placed two fingers on his chest in the exact spot that hurt. He winced and instinctively stepped away from her touch.

"Do you believe me now?" She asked quietly.

"How did you know?" He asked.

She hesitated and then continued in the same quiet tone. "I have an ability heal people through touch. Because I can do that, I can also sense where and what needs the healing. Every time your heart beats, it's telling me where the problem is."

"What are you looking for here?" Jonathan asked, sensing that there was more going on under the surface then just a passing interest in a weird medical file. All the medical files at Smallville Med were strange.

She stepped out of his personal space. "If your son has the ability to heal himself, then he may have abilities similar to what I have. I've never found anyone whose come close to know what it's like. I'd like to talk to him."

He shook his head. "I'm afraid that won't be possible. Clark doesn't have what you're looking for."

"But he is different." She pressed. "You didn't even bat an eye when I told you what I can do. You know something..."

They were interrupted when three men showed up in the barn doorway. Danielle turned and ran towards the back door, but quickly backpedaled when a third man entered, pointing a gun in her direction.

Danielle raised her hands and came to a stop beside Jonathan again. They both had guns pointed at them by now.

"I don't take it you're all here for a friendly chat." Jonathan commented, raising his hands.

"Just keep quiet, old man." One of the men said. He was clearly in charge. "No one has to get hurt here."

The man with the gun came closer to Danielle and grabbed her upper arm. She turned and touched his bare face. In only took a few seconds, but the man gasped for air and then collapsed onto the ground. He didn't move and the paleness of his face suggested that he was dead.

"That was a mistake." The man in charge said.

"Maybe." Danielle said. "But now I'll have enough energy to keep going for quite a while. Wanna test me?"

Both he and his companion snapped out batons and moved towards the two of them. "We're going to have to do this the hard way. Get these two to the van and then search the property." He ordered the other man.

Jonathan didn't know what was happening, but it was clear that these men weren't here just for Danielle. They were intent on taking the whole family if he'd let them. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let them get ahold of Clark. If their reaction to how Danielle had killed their partner was any indication, he wouldn't be surprised if they worked for someone who knew a lot about people with powers.

Danielle was the first to act. "They won't shoot you!" She yelled at him as she traded blows with the baton wielding thug.

Jonathan looked towards the guy with the gun who was tracking his every movement.

"Don't even think about it." The man said.

But Jonathan was thinking about it. He stepped back, grabbed the wrench on the worktable and threw. The man had been ready for that. The gun fired; the bullet flew past him, missing, but the object flew through the air and whacked the gunman on the head. He went down in a heap.

Jonathan turned around to deal with the second baton wielding man and realized that the bullet had hit Danielle. She looked up from her torso where blood had started to show through her shirt. She grabbed a post for balance and sank to the floor.

The baton slammed into Jonathan's head, making the world spun as he fell to the floor, but he didn't black out. A well placed foot and Danielle was on her back. The man above her laughed. "It's going to take you another jolt to recover from that." He teased. "But we're not going to give you the chance."

He laughed again and motioned for his colleague to come over. Jonathan looked over at Danielle and saw that her eyes were filling with tears. He realized what he would have to do to save them both.

o0o

Danielle felt her eyes fill up with tears. It was going to be the end. These guys were too smart to let their skin touch hers and their thick clothing would prevent her from forcing the contact. She looked up at Jonathan; their eyes meeting across the short distance that separated them and she knew what he wanted her to do. The thought was confirmed when Jonathan gave her the tiniest of nods. Unable to do more, she gave a slight inclination of her head; yes.

Gathering her strength, she slowly pushed herself up and painfully crawled across the floor. Painfully aware of the two men behind her, she heard them laugh as he realized what she was trying to do. She ignored them, hearing footsteps coming towards her.

She was by Jonathan's side by now. With a quick glance at his face, she placed her hand on his chest. The feeling was electric. Sparks of static electricity danced between the surface of her bare palm and the thin material of the cotton t-shirt that he wore. Everything else faded into the background as she threw back her head in ecstasy; the power flooding her body. The power of a human life force.

There was no other feeling like it in the world. For a moment, everything was amplified. A cool breeze dancing along her bare shoulders, Jonathan's body shuddering, his gasp for air that wouldn't come.

A quick prick of concern washed over her at what she was doing, but it was quickly swept away. Nothing mattered anymore, nothing but the power coursing through her body at this moment. She could feel her strength returning as her reserve was replenished and the wound healed. The parts that were Jonathan, what made up his soul, settled and she could feel his strength of character, his love for his family, and the lengths he would go to protect Clark; who wasn't from Earth.

Reality crashed in too soon. Like water cut off at it source, the connection between them faded with a snap. She half-collapsed, throwing out her free hand over Jonathan's body to steady herself. Beneath her other hand, Jonathan slumped, his body suddenly weak. His eyes slipped closed as his chest stilled; his heart stopped a split second later.

The men behind them, whom had been too awed by what they had just witnessed, now started forward; intent on finishing the job that they had come here to do.

In a quick motion she stood and threw out her hands, catching both men on on the chest. The electric feeling returned only for a moment before the men collapsed to the floor. She didn't need it; didn't usually take in this much, but it felt so good. It had been a long while since she had felt this strong.

"Dad?"

Clark's voice echoed from the barn doorway...


	2. Chapter 2

"Dad?"

Clark's voice echoed from the barn doorway. Danielle spun to face the young man. His eyes went from his father lying on the floor, not moving, to Danielle standing between two dead men, and two in the barn. Conclusions were being drawn and probably the wrong ones. He shot towards her and grabbed her arm.

She threw out her hand to stop his advance and her power leaped out hungrily, unleashed after a prolonged sleep. Her hand made contact and she drew power. But unlike two humans, their two energies collided and sent Clark stumbling backwards and onto the floor.

She held out her hand as Clark rose to his feet. "Don't come..." She begun to say but was flying across the room before she could finish her sentence. She landed in the pile of hay that Jonathan had been shoveling before the two goons had burst into the barn. Something within her ribcage snapped.

Threat taken care of for the moment, Clark knelt beside his father and lifted his head off the floor. "Dad!" He shouted. Danielle knew that he hoped that the sinking feeling in his chest wasn't true; that what his heart was telling him wasn't the truth. That his father wasn't really dead.

She slowly got to her feet and limped towards the two men; one prone and the other with anger growing. Clark raised his head to look her in the eye; she almost trembled at the look in his eyes. He didn't know how powerful he was and at that moment all that power was directed towards her.

"What did you do?" He demanded. "You killed him."

"I can fix it." She told him quietly.

"How?" His tone was still demanding.

"Let me try!" She shot back, pain making her words biting. "You have nothing to lose." They stared at one another. It was another voice that broke the silence.

"Clark?" Martha's quarry come from over by the farmhouse. Concerned for his mother and how she'd react if she saw Jonathan's body, Clark looked at Danielle. She could see that he had already made his decision.

"Do it." He ordered. He gently laid his father's head on the dirt floor of the barn and stepped back, looking towards the barn door in case his mother would try to enter.

Danielle knelt down beside Jonathan, one arm clutching at her ribs. The throbbing in her chest was already starting to subside, aided by the life-force she had consumed. She laid her hand, palm down, on Jonathan's chest and lowered her head, concentrating on bringing him back.

Healing was always harder then draining, giving always hurt more then taking; taking felt good, powerful. Healing pulled at everything she had and she knew it would make her ribs hurt even more then they already did. But she pushed all that aside and focused on the man in front of her.

Her eyes closed as she concentrated on the parts within her that held the essence of the life force that was Jonathan Kent. It was easy; those parts of him that had been parts of her for only a few minutes beat strong within her. It was easy to isolate the parts of Jonathan that needed to go back where they belonged; the affection for his wife… his love for his adopted son…

She focused on pouring all those feeling through her hand and back into the body beneath her. She didn't have to see to know what was happening… The tapes the people had shown her while she had been incarcerated had told her what happened when she used her ability. A faint, golden glow appeared around her hand and encircled Jonathan's chest.

She pushed harder, pouring more and more life back into his body. There was something blocking her; death. It wanted to take hold, to do what was natural, normal. She pushed back against it hard, forcing it to back down, to comply with her command to leave.

It complied and with a rush, she felt all the systems being restored to their full working capacity; except the heart. It was too large a price for her body to pay. If fixing the heart was all she'd set out to do, it would have been easy, but pulling someone back from the dead had been too taxing on her. The balance had been restored, put back exactly how it had been before she'd messed with it.

The glow faded from around her hand and she slumped to one side, her body sliding to the ground, no longer being able to support her weight. Her chest constricted as pain came screaming back to greet her. Her head hit the dirt and she turned her head in time to see Jonathan take a breath as his lungs started to work again. His eyes opened.

Clark was at his side in an instant with muttered reassurances, but Jonathan's gaze was turned towards Danielle first. She read the thankfulness in his eyes, no words were needed. She managed to smile back before turning away so he wouldn't see her grimace in pain.

The door to the barn was pushed open and Martha stood in the doorway. Clark raised his head, caught kneeling on the floor beside his prone father who raised his head from the floor to look at his wife. Martha looked around at the three people in the barn. Her gaze came to rest on Jonathan.

"What…?"

Jonathan moved to get up. Clark helped him to his feet. He was slightly shaky, but was gaining strength by the second. Holding onto his son, he reached for his wife. "It's okay, Martha. We're okay."

A groan interrupted the tender moment as the unconscious man began to wake up. Jonathan let go of Clark and walked over to the man who was beginning to sit up. Jonathan grabbed his shirt front and made him look up. "Take your men and get off my property. You're not welcome here."

The man nodded and once Jonathan had let go of him, scrambled to his feet. He bolted out the barn door and a few seconds later, they heard a van start up and drive away.

Jonathan quickly went to Danielle. "Clark, help me get her inside. I'll explain everything once we're there."

o0o

"So you really died?" Martha asked. They were all standing in the farmhouse with the exception of Danielle; Jonathan had gotten Clark to carry her to the living room couch.

"For only a few minutes." Jonathan replied. "It was the only way I could think of to protect Clark. They were coming for him next. I couldn't let that happen, Martha."

"But you would've stopped them, Dad." Clark was quick to say. "You didn't need to… die."

"As much as it hurts me to say this, Clark; I'm not invincible. They got the jump on me, on both of us." He amended looking towards where Danielle was resting on the couch. "I'm just glad she was able to bring me back."

"You gambled a lot on that girl, Jonathan." Martha admonished. "What if she had been lying? What if she couldn't have raised you from the dead? As strange as that sounds to say."

"Then we all would have been in the custody of those men." Jonathan replied. "Tthey were here for all of us; they were interested that both Danielle and I stay unharmed."

"So they didn't know who they were looking for." Clark said.

"They were looking for people like me." Danielle said from the living room. She got to her feet and limped into the kitchen where the Kent family was standing. "People like that took me from my parents when I was young. They forced me to undergo tests; they wanted to see the extent of my abilities and how I could be of use to them. I think they thought I'd found more like me; I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Martha assured her. She looked at her husband. "It's not the first time we've had to deal with something like this. I'm just glad everyone is okay."

"If they had you before, how'd you escape?" Clark wanted to know.

Danielle looked towards him. "They let me out once. I took the lives of the guards and escaped through the window." She winced and grabbed at her ribs.

"We need to get you to a hospital." Jonathan said.

Danielle grinned. "I'm a doctor, I think I'll be alright in a day or two with some rest. Maybe a house plant or two." She reached out to touch the flowers sitting on the island in a vase. They wilted and died at her touch. "Sorry." She managed to look sheepish. "Though, that kinda helped..."

"It's alright." Martha assured her, looking slightly worried at the sight of her flowers dying. "They were old anyways. Can you do that with anything organic?" She asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

Danielle shook her head. "Food doesn't work. I have to eat just like anyone else, but plants, animals, people..." She shrugged. "I don't really understand it, but I try to take only when things are dying; it benefits both of us." She looked towards Jonathan. "Today was the first time in a long time I've taken a human life."

"Let's hope it's the last time you need to do anything drastic like that." Jonathan replied. "I suppose you won't be saying anything else concerning Clark's medical files?"

She looked towards Clark and shook her head. "No. I have to say though I'm disappointed. I think there's has to be others like me out there somewhere, but I didn't expect to run into someone who isn't from… uh… this planet."

The Kent family looked at one another, concerned that yet another person knew Clark's secret.

Danielle held up a hand. "Of course, I won't be saying anything about that either." Her tone turned serious. "I understand, Clark; really I do. I wouldn't want you put through anything like I've been put through." She looked up at the clock. "I should be going."

She walked towards the door, turning back once she'd opened it. "I won't be back, Mr. Kent; you can trust me on that."

Jonathan nodded. He'd expected as much. Danielle turned to walk off the porch and out of their lives when Martha suddenly ran after her. She caught up with the intern at her car which was still parked in the driveway.

"I wanted to ask you something." Martha began. "I know it might be too much to ask, but if there anything you can do for Jonathan's heart?"

Danielle looked past Martha to where Jonathan stood on the porch watching the exchange between the two woman. She turned back to Martha and the older woman was surprised to see tears in the young woman's eyes.

"No." Danielle replied sadly. "If maybe I hadn't brought him back… to try again so soon would probably kill us both."

Martha nodded. "I understand."

Impulesivly, Danielle took her hand. "You have a wonderful family, Mrs. Kent; an amazing husband."

Martha smiled. "I know. I hope you find someone just as amazing." She withdrew her hand and turned away from the doctor. She walked back onto the porch and into her husband's waiting arms as the car drive away in the background.

"What was the about?" Jonathan asked, his chest vibrating under her cheek.

"Nothing." Martha replied quietly. "Just making sure she's going to be alright. I can't imagine Clark going through something like that."

Jonathan sighed and wrapped his arms tighter around his wife. "He won't. We'll make sure of that."

This time it was Martha's turn to sigh. "Fact is, Jonathan; I don't know if we can prevent that. There'll always be people who want to use powered people for their own gain. We can't prevent them from trying to carry out their experiments or trying to kidnap people."

"No." Jonathan agreed. "But we can always count on each other to get us out of the mess when it happens." He chuckled softly. "And it seems that we have a few friends to count on as well." He nodded towards the cloud of dust on the road that indicated a car. "We may need her again someday."

 _the end_


End file.
